This week i wanted to find and do something Quirky and and a bit different. and as i know i won’t be able to do that every week i did allot of digging on the web and found the following low carb sandwich or a low carb cucumber sandwich depends on what you want to call it.

so with this recipe i was kinda missing some ingredients but i have made the step by step guide and its really simple to follow and you could just use the concept for most sandwich style foods anyway.

Ingredients

Cucumber

Cheese

Humas

Carrot

Ham or Turkey (or any thin sliced meat)

Method

Choice is yours!!! slice the cucumber into disks or cut in the middle and make more a roll style shape base

Layer on some Humas

Place ingredients like shredded carrot, meats, cheeses

Cover sandwich on the other side with more cucumber

Serve!

Really simple, really cheep and effective lunch or snack style dish with allot of potential combinations to it. I will delve more into these combos as the weeks roll on. Hope you enjoy and please share with your Friends.

Firstly sorry for the lack of blogging august has been manic with work events and my birthday. i not really made this blog a priority and i have been sketchy at best with my content. I have had a interesting summer and it is something i want to share so i hope to find time to come up with a blog to explain my lack of experimental cooking. To get me back into the swing of things i will start off with a nice easy simple one, this Dried Fruit and Nut recipe can be done in any way you like just pic from the list of ingredients below and you will be able to mix them up. what you will need is an air tight jar and a dark place to store them. this is the perfect high protein and fat and fibre snack to keep you from delving into the naughty draw.

its been a few weeks i kinda took a break then kinda got lazy. but I’m back and i want to introduce to you a concept i have recently discovered ( so I’m more than likely behind with this trend). so over night oats very similar concept to the salad jars i made early in the year. You pre make a load of a set recipe and store them in the fridge for up to 4 days in the air tight sealed jars this works out amazing cheep when you look at it from a financial stand point and these things taste amazing. Before we get to the recipe i ha e a few things to mention and a few confessions of changes i had to make.

I have half a litre jar size for these and had to add some stuff to pack this out to make 3 servings which the original recipe said it made my jars might be a bit small or it actually is suppose to serve 2 jars.

I had no chocolate coco powder so i used chocolate protein powder in mine. i think it was a fine choice it will certainly bulk up the protein levels. but maybe this tastes better with a dark coco powder.

I also bulked this out with greek yogurt just so it could serve 3 days. this is optional and i won’t add it to the recipe but if your looking for a thicker mix this works wonders.

The Recipe

2 cups rolled oats

2 tbs. cocoa powder

1½ cups coconut milk (or other milk)

½ tsp. vanilla extract

2 tbs. finely diced dates or 1 tbs. date paste

1 tbs. maple syrup (or to taste)

Chocolate chips and cherries for garnish (optional)

Method

In a medium bowl, stir together the oats and cocoa powder. In a measuring cup, combine the coconut milk, vanilla extract, dates, and maple syrup. Pour the ingredients from the measuring cup over the oats, and stir to coat evenly. Taste the mixture to see if it needs more maple syrup, and adjust as needed.

Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.

Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. Garnish with fruit.

These chocolate overnight oats will keep for several days in the refrigerator.

have not done a top 5 for a few weeks and really need to build this into a regular blog series so i thought i start of with looking at stress. first off i will be looking at the reasons for you to get stressed then we will look at combatting stress next week. So here is my top 5 reasons you get stressed!

Work can be tough some days

1- Job

Work can be stressful and in this environment there are many reasons for getting stressed. It could be your a manager thats way in over their head and can’t actually handle the task you have been given. Or if your that employee who really cares about your work place and it stresses you out when some things are decided that feel are bad for the building. it could be you have college tension because of a previous xmas party antics. The list could be endless here I’m not going to waffle on.

2- Money

When you check your bank account and its empty

Money makes the world go round and with a lack of it your would might grind to a halt! Everyone is different with money some love it, some love what it can do, some don’t care for it but all will need it to fund there bills and buy there food. so when we run out of this wonderful green and gold stuff it can put us in a state of stress as we wonder how we are going to survive and not lose the shirts of our backs.

When your girlfriend is being unreasonable

3- Relationships

People can be stressful too if one persons actions annoys you this will stress you out. But we are social creatures and also being lonely can also be stressful so finding a balance here is difficult and not one i can solve for you. all i can suggest is you make sure you talk things out and find a middle ground when dealing with anyone that disagrees with you.

4- Nutrition

Food is key for good fitness its also key for combatting stress. The body will remain in a constant state of stress if there are not a well balanced ample supply of nutrients it needs to meet the demands. a long term effect of poor chronic dietary habits can lead to metabolic damage and other food related problems

mixing vodka and Redbull was not a good idea

5- Sleep

Sleep is a unique thing in some respects. we all need it and the majority will need 7-8 hours sleep a night. But when you talk to people every body sleeps differently and for different times a night. A change in this cycle can cause the person to feel restless or tired regardless weather they had more or less sleep than normal. Quality is important and poor Sleep will cause the body to fall in a state of stress.

These are the top 5 reasons people get stressed, next week 5 ways to combat Stress

continuing the theme for this weeks Blog was kinda difficult. i didn’t want to do a 3rd egg blog in a row, so i made a smoothie instead. breakfast smoothies are good they taste great and are quick. but they are messy so have a plan to clean them quick for the next day in place. also have a good smoothie maker. most of these are simple you just put in the ingredients and wiz them up till well blended and then drink.

keeping running with the Healthy Breakfast theme of the next few weeks. i decided to do my version of a full English which is a beloved dish by most in the uk. now i found the ket to this is not so much what you cook its how its cooked that is key. But firstly i like to point out that i ran out of muscle foods chicken sausages which i more than likely would have used so i used conventional sausages. i really do enjoy this and its most commonly featured on my Sunday morning routine as my little treat before i go golf.

Ingredients

Egg x2

Sausages x2

Bacon x2

Tomatos x2 for Big or 5-6 small

Salt

Pepper

Oil

Method

pre heat oven to 180 degrees C

place Sausages on Oven and let cook for 10 min and rotate them

prep your Eggs in a bowel and whisk together the salt and pepper and get in a pan ready to cook.

Dice up the tomatoes

Place Bacon in the oven with the sausages and leave for a further 10 min

cook the scrambled egg and dry fry the tomatoes when there is 5 min remaining on the oven timer.

(optional) Slice sausages down the middle and place under grill for 3-5 min

This month I’m going to give a run down of some breakfast meals you may not consider or have forgot that are good for you. this week we are starting with Steak and eggs. This is possibly a meal that i would like to put in 2 times a week if i have allot of white meats planned during the week for dinner. Red meat will provide you with Iron and other essential B vitamins as well as essential Amino acids that the body cannot produce. The egg will back this up with essential fats and more protein. this meal is very filling and will set you right for the day ahead.

i am actually going to talk about how to best cook a steak and i might add that in at the end of the week i will see how i get on but for now lets cover the basics with the scrambled egg as that comes up a few times this series.

Ingredients

3 eggs

salt

pepper

oil

Method

Heat he pan and place a oil, butter in there for a layer of Greece which will prevent burning and sticking

crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk

add salt and pepper

pour in to the pan and leave for 10 seconds and wait for the egg to form

stir gently and often to create your scrambled egg.

Give this a go in the mornings and see your energy levels rise and stay high throughout the day.

for the last and final blog on my BBQ series i will be doing a vegetarian choice this Skewer was actually a last min swap from my original plan and to be honest i think its a better option. What i found was these held there shape surprisingly well. This will work really well for those non meat eaters and it will act as a wicked side dish for the meat lovers around the table.

Ingredients

200g Halloumi

2 red peppers

2 courgettes

chillies

Fresh Mint

1 lemon

2 table spoon of Olive Oil

sea salt and black pepper

Cherry Tomatos

Method

Place Skewers in a tray of cold water to soak

dice the cheese in to 2cm chunks, slice the peppers into the came 2cm chunks

place into a bowl with the cherry tomatoes

Speed peel the the courgette into strips

finely chop and de seed the chillies and add them with the Mints into the bowl

Next week I’m going to start looking at breakfast. I’m going to cover my favourite food to have in the morning hours. So the next 4-5 weeks i will be covering that. I have a few cool blog post coming up i hope you will read them

Firstly i like to apologise for the lack of blog yesterday i updated my Mac and didn’t see how big it would take and see how much time it would waste. Today i thought i go back to doing some Work out specific Top 5 this was inspired by my training partner today. Danni wanted a work out that based around allot of core work out elements and i wanted to limber up so nothing major heavy as i have played 4 days of golf and I’m feeling a little stiff. So i thought about movements that will work the core while focusing on major muscle groups. and here was my top 5

Number 5- Pull ups

holding your self still and preventing your self from wilding swinging takes allot of effort from the core to stabilise while the back does all the puling. look to get to 3 sets of 10 using a band.

Number 4- Squats

My most favoured move but sadly not enough muscle groups in comparison to the others to be higher in the list. Working the quads and hamstrings and Glutes for the major movers and then having a bar across the back or eve at the front will engage the core to keep the body in a upright position. again go for 3 sets of 10

Number 3- Cable Pres

Sit on a bench with no back support and try and do a cable press this move really forces you to engage your core while your doing your press. you can mix this up and put more pressure on the chest by doing flys. 3 sets 10-12 reps will work wonders and add something new to your work out

Number 2- Frontal Raise Plank

Press up position holding a cable in one hand, shift your weight and keep your arm straight and raise the arm in front. this is a real burner of the shoulders they are either woking while moving or working when trying to have to hold your position. Make sure you do 3 sets 10 reps for both arms

Number 1- Single leg Lunge with opposite arm press

Legs, shoulder, core, brain what more could you want in a move! Got to give Danni credit here for her suggestion. I did have something else in mid but this was allot of fun. you will have to remember to do both sides per set and again 3 sets of 10 here is good enough to start off with.

thats this weeks top 5 maybe next week i will do something else like this i will ask one of the team if they want to help

Today i wanted to go through some things about burgers because this is a BBQ series and they are a key part to the traditional BBQ. so this post will be everything you need to know about burgers. To keep burgers on the Healthy side i would suggest you drop the bun and just have the patties. filling up with side salads or grilled vegetables will be better.

Types of burger

Beef

Crocodile

Wagu Steak

Reindeer

Chicken

Llama

Kangaroo

Ostrich

Horse

Buffalo

Cooking Burgers

Preheat grill to a high temperature.

Quickly place all the patties on the hot grill and close the lid.

Wait about 2 to 3 minutes.

With a metal spatula test to see if the burger easily lifts from the grate. If not continue grilling, until it does.

Flip all the patties provided they lift easily.

Close lid and continue grilling for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Once again check the patties to make sure they have released from the grate and flip one more time.

Continue grilling until juices from the burgers run clear and the patties have a solid feel.

Remove from grill and check to make sure they are cooked through by using a fork to pierce through the center.

If burgers are too pink in the middle return to grill for another minute or so. Otherwise serve as desired.